Raman Spectroscopy is a well-known spectroscopic technique for performing chemical analysis in the gas, liquid or solid phase. In conventional Raman Spectroscopy, high intensity monochromatic light from a light source, such as a laser, is directed onto an analyte to be chemically analyzed. The analyte may contain a single species of molecules or mixtures of different molecules. Furthermore, Raman Spectroscopy may be performed on a number of different molecular configurations, such as organic and inorganic molecules in crystalline or amorphous states.
For a system that does not have surface or nanostructure enhancement, the majority of the incident photons of the light are elastically scattered by the analyte molecule. In other words, the scattered photons have the same frequency, and thus the same energy, as the photons that were incident on the analyte. This is known as Rayleigh scattering. However, a small fraction of the photons (i.e., 1 in 107 photons) are inelastically scattered by the unenhanced analyte molecule at a different optical frequency than the incident photons. The inelastically scattered photons are termed the “Raman scattered radiation” and may be scattered at frequencies greater than, but most are usually scattered at a frequency lower than, the frequency of the incident photons. When the incident photons collide with the molecules and give up some of their energy, the Raman scattered photons (also referred to as Raman scattered radiation) emerge with a lower energy. The lower energy Raman scattered photons are commonly referred to in Raman spectroscopy as the “Stokes radiation.” A small fraction of the molecules are already in an energetically excited state and when the incident photons collide with the molecules, the Raman scattered photons emerge at a higher energy and thus at a higher frequency. The higher energy Raman scattered photons are commonly referred to in Raman spectroscopy as the “anti-Stokes radiation.” Raman scattering may occur from the rotational, vibrational, or electronic states of the molecules.
The Stokes and the anti-Stokes Raman scattered photons are collected using optics, the different frequencies are dispersed spatially with some type of spectrometer, and the photons are registered by a detector, such as a photomultiplier, resulting in a spectral graph of intensity at a corresponding frequency (i.e., proportional to energy) for the Raman scattered photons. By plotting the intensity of the inelastically scattered Raman photons against frequency, a unique Raman spectrum, which corresponds to the particular analyte molecules, is obtained. This Raman spectrum may be used to identify chemical species, as well as other physical properties of the analyte. While conventional Raman Spectroscopy is suitable for bulk chemical analysis, it is not effective for surface studies because the signal from the bulk Raman scattered photons overwhelms any signal from Raman scattered photons near the surface.
In hyper-Raman spectroscopy, when excitation radiation impinges on an analyte molecule, a very small number of photons may be scattered at frequencies corresponding to the higher order harmonics of the excitation radiation, such as the second and third harmonics (i.e., twice or three times the frequency of the excitation radiation). Some of these photons may be Raman scattered photons with a frequency that is Raman-shifted relative to the frequencies corresponding to the higher order harmonics of the excitation radiation. Therefore, in hyper-Raman spectroscopy, the incident excitation photons have approximately ½, ⅓, or ¼ the frequency of the Raman photons.
Due to the deficiencies with performing surface studies using conventional Raman Spectroscopy, another Raman Spectroscopy technique called Surface Enhanced Raman Spectroscopy (SERS), which is effective for performing surface studies, has been developed. In SERS, a monolayer or sub-monolayer amount of the molecules to be analyzed is adsorbed onto a specially roughened metal surface. Typically, the metal surface is made from gold, silver, copper, lithium, sodium, or potassium. Raman spectroscopy has also been used employing metallic nanoparticles or nanowires for the metal surface, as opposed to a roughened metallic surface, which is hereinafter referred to as Nano-Enhanced Raman Spectroscopy (NERS). The intensity of the Raman scattered photons from a collection of molecules adsorbed on such a metal surface is typically about 104–106 greater than conventional Raman Spectroscopy from a similar number of molecules in a bulk specimen, and can be as high as 108–1014 for a single molecule adsorbed near two or more metal nanoparticles. Although not thoroughly understood, the selectivity of the surface Raman signal results from the presence of surface enhancement mechanisms and is mainly attributed to two primary mechanisms: electromagnetic enhancement and chemical enhancement, with the electromagnetic enhancement being the dominant mechanism. The enhanced electromagnetic field is highly dependent on the surface roughness features of the enhancement surface. The chemical enhancement is believed to be dependent on the altered electronic structure of the enhancement surface due to adsorption of the analyte. The enhanced electromagnetic field of the enhancement surface, which is adjacent to the analyte, irradiates the analyte, producing an enhanced Raman signal having a strength that is, in part, proportional to the square of the enhanced electromagnetic field. Thus, Raman spectroscopy may be used to study monolayers of materials adsorbed on metals, and even single molecules adsorbed near an appropriate metal nanostructure (i.e., NERS).
In a conventional SERS system, a spectrometer collects all radiation, including the Stokes radiation, anti-Stokes radiation, and the elastically scattered radiation, and provides a spectrum of the scattered radiation. The spectrum may then be used to identify the chemical species, as well as other physical properties of the analyte. Conventionally, the spectrometer may include various optical elements such as lenses, gratings, photomultipliers, and filters. While this arrangement may be flexible, it is often bulky, expensive, and requires significant user interaction to analyze a chemical species.
An integrated Raman spectroscopy analysis system, which integrates a laser light source, a Raman enhancement structure, and a radiation detection element, may be a smaller and less costly system. In addition, a Raman spectroscopy analysis system that irradiates the Raman enhancement structure from a laser light source that has a direction substantially parallel to the Raman enhancement structure may provide radiation across a larger surface area of the Raman enhancement structure, and, as a result, generate additional Raman scattered radiation. This integrated Raman spectroscopy analysis system may be easier to use and may be adaptable to detection of a predetermined set of molecules.